Many digital cable, satellite and/or terrestrial television systems transmit an incoming television signal provided by a television provider to a receiver or other television receiver associated with a customer or user. The receiver, as part of the television system, may receive the encrypted signal and convert it into a signal that the user's television may recognize in order to display it to the user. Generally, a customer or user of the television system pays a monthly fee to view the content of the television signal broadcast by the television system.
In addition to the content provided by the television system for a monthly fee, many television systems also provide premium multimedia content to their users for additional purchase by the user. For example, many satellite and digital cable systems provide pay-per-view television events to their customers for purchase. Pay-per-view events are typically single television events that must be purchased by the customer prior to viewing, such as a sporting event or a movie that a customer may wish to spend money in addition to monthly fee to view. Other examples of premium content may be content broadcast on a pay channel that requires an additional monthly access fee to view or on-demand content that is continuously aired and may be viewed by the user upon payment of a fee. Generally, upon purchasing, the premium content is usually viewed on the purchaser's television or other display like any other program offered by the television provider.
However, because premium content is generally only accessible for viewing after the content has been purchased, many users may miss or be unaware of certain premium multimedia content offered by the television system that may be of interest to the user. For example, some users may be unaware that a particular pay-per-view sporting event is available, but would otherwise purchase the sporting event if the existence of the event is known to the user. Generally, such information is provided to a user through traditional advertising methods, such as television commercials, print ads, inserts in a monthly bill statement, and so on. However, it is often difficult to tailor advertisements of a particular premium content to those users that may be interested in the particular content. Thus, many televisions systems and providers spend significant amounts of money to advertise certain programs or content offered by the television system, while much of the advertisement of such programs goes to those users who are generally uninterested in the advertised program.